Wednesday, 31 October 2007

Well, I guess my food obsession all started with Halloween. We used to carve all of the guts out of our pumpkins and then our mother would come through with a large spoon and knife and thin its walls out. This extra thinning of the walls would become pumpkin pie along with a side of roasted pumpkin seeds. As for the jackolantern.....well, I don't recall. But, the pie was delicious. One Halloween came very quickly after a move. The house was full of boxes and my parents didn't have time for halloween costumes what with getting food on the table, our new private school, Shelly's new Gloria Vanderbelt jeans....you get the picture...this was the year we did without...sigh. I grabbed some boxes, a little glue, and the pink paint leftovers from our kitchen and morphed into an ice cream truck. Not just any ice cream truck, a HAUNTED ice cream truck. You put the candy in the trunk! That's right. I had a bag by my butt that you put candy into. My poor sister under the same dilemma grabbed some funky bathrobe/feather boa combination and attempted to be a movie star. I sometimes laugh when I think of the next door lady asking her if she was supposed to be Dolly Parton. Hey Shell, do you remember that? Ahhhh, your pre-teen over-developed angst....heh heh. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

-Robin

Butter Cookies

1 cup soft butter

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

3 tsp flavoring ( vanilla, almond, lemon, etc.)

3 cups sifted flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

Mix butter, sugar, and egg. Stir in flavoring. In a seperate bowl mix flour and baking powder. Stir in butter mixture till it is all incorporated. Chill dough 1 hour. Roll out to desired thickness...these make great thin or thick cookies...whatever you prefer. We like them thick but it's up to you. Cut in desired shapes.

Bake for 5-7 mins at 425 degrees.

After they have completely cooled decorate with your favorite icing. The canned stuff works great...if you use the stuff in the can, let them sit out overnight so that the next day you can stack them as the icing will harden.

First off let us say THANK YOU to everyone who participated in our little contest! It was a lot of fun reading your answers and we may make this a more regular thing! So, keep reading if you would like to win more stuff from our shop.

Congratulations to Kimberly Ann over at Nostalgic Homemaking. We did not get our first correct answer till over 24 hours into the contest SOOOO everyone make like a dork and clap your hands at your computer for Kimberly Ann...she really knows her apples!

The "faux pas" was that the apples on the corer were not Swiss Gourmet!

Now on to today’s business! As much as I hate to admit it, this recipe may be a little "Rachel Ray-ish" I promise you there will be no "yummos" or any of that other nonsense. We basically took some cut up chicken cooked it in a little butter ( see you didn't hear me say EVOO - Oy E Vay) tossed in some green beans toward the end and doused it in Ina Gartens "Buffalo Sauce"...from her Family Style cookbook.

This makes a lot so you may want to cut it in half.

6 chicken breast cut up bite size

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce

1 teaspoon kosher salt

Put butter in a pan and melt. Add your cayenne, Tabasco, and salt. Poor over cooked chicken. Toss in cooked green beans and heat through. Serve with a large glass of water.

Saturday, 27 October 2007

Issac Asimov said "In order to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe."

Well Issac, lucky for us Al Gore invented the Internet and all I had to do was pay a visit to Cream Puffs in Venice. I must say this was a very tasty pie...the only thing I changed was adding a hit of nutmeg. It's a sick compulsion...I can't make anything containing apples and not add nutmeg.

Friday, 26 October 2007

Remember when you used to tell me that if I ate my spinach I would grow up big and strong like Popeye? Why was that so appealing?I was a 4 year old girl! I imagine I would have looked something like this.

Thanks mom.

Love, Robin

.,

Spinach Quiche

1 ready pastry crust

1 teaspoon butter

1 small onion, finely chopped

¾ cup diced ham

1pkg frozen spinach (thaw and squeeze moisture out)

½ teaspoon nutmeg

6 oz Swiss cheese

3 eggs beaten

½ cup cream

Put the crust in pie shell, cook the onion in butter till clear. Mix in with other ingredients and poor in shell.

Thursday, 25 October 2007

Here at My Vintage Kitchen we thought we would start running a little series called "Great Moments in American Cinema". This is our version of Dinner & a Movie.

OK, it's not exactly dinner, but we will give you a little recipe and a little movie clip. Now we must warn you that Robin and I have the maturity of a 14 year old boy. So you may not want to watch our "clip". Also, Mother did not approve of this clip...but being the heathens that we are...we'll let you be the judge.

Oh yeah, and you should totally make these cookies and rent the movie Parenthood! They are both splendid!

Friday, 19 October 2007

Back to the Old Bay Seasoning...I just can’t get enough of it. Once upon a time I coated EVERYTHING with Creole seasoning. You name it… potatoes…poultry…fish…salads…green veggies…the thanksgiving turkey (that is really good by the way) but these days it’s Old Bay. Old Bay on everything…heck I may even sprinkle it on the driveway this winter.

This is a simple easy very flavorful way of cooking salmon.

-Shelly

4 salmon fillets

1 tsp lemon pepper

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp old bay seasoning ( maybe 2 tsp if you’re feeling sassy)

1 lemon sliced.

Mix your pepper, garlic, and old bay. Place your salmon skin side down on a baking sheet, drizzle a little olive oil over fillets, sprinkle with your seasoning mix and top with thin lemon slices. Bake at 350 for about 10-15 min. (varies depending on your oven….if you use salmon steaks do about 20 min.)

Thursday, 18 October 2007

I have pretty much resigned to the fact that there is no such thing as a good brownie that is made with cocoa. It must be chocolate. I found this little number on line and it was truly the worst brownie ever. But here is the picture. Looks good…no?

Just in case your looking for some sort of self sabotage like ….I don’t know, cutting yourself, going out and partying with Britney Spears, or going on a date with Mike Tyson. I would recommend making these in stead…but those are the ONLY circumstances I would ever recommend making these.

Friday, 05 October 2007

Imagine a chicken, with long flowing angelic locks, sitting on a lemon.

Thank you.

-Robin

1 Bunch of Asparagus

1 box whole wheat angle hair pasta

4 chicken breasts

3 lemons

2 cloves garlic minced

4 Tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon

Old

Bay

seasoning

Flour for dredging

Rinse and trim your chicken breasts, set aside. Heat 1 tbls butter in a pan and saute your garlic. Just get the aroma going. dredge your chicken in the flour and then sprinkle some Old Bay on each side, pop in the skillet, I do this with all the chicken and keep adding butter as needed.

I usually have my pasta almost cooked by the time I start the chicken.....get your asparagus going. I like to cut it up before I pop it in boiling salted water. Once your chicken is almost done I pop the asparagus in the skillet, while it is still very green. Mix around and start squeezing your lemons right into the skillet. Mix it up well. Once the asparagus is tender remove chicken and slice on a cutting board. Add pasta to asparagus and toss, plate your pasta and then add your chicken breast to the top.